


momentum

by tanyart



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Happy Ending, M/M, Ocean, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-14
Updated: 2014-02-14
Packaged: 2018-01-12 07:19:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1183451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tanyart/pseuds/tanyart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Things to do when you finally get to that ocean.</p>
            </blockquote>





	momentum

They had already watched the ocean from the shoreline but after having spent so much time flying through the air Eren _knew_  the view would be very different from up high.  Despite Jean’s  _seen-it-already_  attitude they eventually set out to climb the tall rocky cliffs nearby, bright and early in the morning.  

It was as if the earth simply ended at his feet.  He thought he would see the waves crashing against immense rocks at the bottom but the cliff must have jutted out or something—all he saw was the water below and for a moment Eren could easily have imagined it as a darker, stormier sky.  He took a step closer towards the edge and for once there was no one pulling him back, Jean least of all.

“What did I tell you?” Jean said faintly, staring off at the line where the water met with the real sky.  “Just an oversized lake.”

Eren shoved him, just enough to get Jean to teeter from the cliff for a second before he heard the click of a trigger and the metal point of a wire embedding itself into the ground.  Jean disappeared from view, line snapping taunt, and Eren peered down to find Jean staring up at him, looking unsurprised and unimpressed.

“Hey.  I could have fallen to my death,” he said, even though he looked completely at ease with his heels digging against the very edge of the rock.

“I held out my hand, didn’t I?” Eren dropped his arm, suddenly glad that he came out empty handed so that he could grab his own handles and dangle from the ledge beside Jean.   There had never been a problem with heights or standing from odd places between them.  “I would have caught you.”

Jean scoffed, lowering himself at a more precarious angle.  “And then what?  Let yourself be dragged down with me?”

Eren still thought Jean was the type of person who would have done well with a settled life if given the chance.  Maybe Jean would have done some good for the Military Police, made it easier to dismantle the corrupt government by having a hand in it.  He could see Jean grow old, more complacent and quiet, but still so cynical about every seemingly good thing in life.  

But he had also seen how Jean thrived in stress and dangerous work, how he was made braver and better, more quick to be thoughtful when Eren wasn’t.  Still cynical, obviously, but with the real kind of thoughtful reason Eren was now able to understand as frustratingly  _loud_  caution. 

There was salt on his lips, leftover from when he had ran along the shore with Mikasa and Armin.  He hadn’t even thought of the ocean in detail like this—the taste of salt with the warm wind, all the sandy places to climb or walk through.  That had been the goal, the far off dream he kept to himself because it had sounded frivolous next to his other objectives—things like duties and orders and missions.  Here, at the ocean, he was taken in, breathless and lost the moment he had taken his first step into the water.

For something so vast, it did feel like it was the end of something.  

Jean’s boots scrapped against rock as he took a step closer, hand grabbing roughly around Eren’s wrist to get his attention.

“You know, I didn’t throw away my life because you happened to make a couple promises about a glorified salted lake,” he said over the rhythmic crash of waves.

Eren still wasn’t sure what Jean wanted in the end.  He had asked once, but even their concept and notions of dreams were not on the same line of thought.  He knew Jean had aspirations and a picturesque idea of the life he wanted to have, but they were never tangible dreams, nothing like seeing the ocean or exploring places outside the walls. 

“So show me something better,” Jean said, letting his feet slip from the rock. He swung to the side, the motion small enough to keep their lines untangled.  

Eren shifted, knowing just how to mess up Jean’s timing and making them bump together.  He was relieved, in a way.  It had been amazing and difficult, being in love with the idea of the ocean for so long.  Maybe he needed another dream, another goal in life.  Maybe it was something they both needed now that they were done. 

Maybe like Jean, he still lived off challenges and risks.

 “Alright,” he said, hooking an arm around Jean’s shoulders, and watched as Jean’s mouth hitched upwards into a crooked smile.  “I will.”


End file.
